However, staying on the throne was impossible.
"So… you're the new king?"
Another warrior appeared. Not even a day after Reno had taken the seat. His gaze burned with the fire of recent victories. Scars marked the many brutal battles he had survived, and a long sword rested on his shoulder despite the deep wounds carved into his body.
"And who are you?"
Reno, for his part, looked fresh but furious. It was the longest rest he had been able to take in this capital of frenzied warriors. His mace rested beside him, and in the shadows stood someone even more dangerous than the man sitting on the throne.
"Just a challenger."
It hadn't even been half a day, and they already had to defend their title—a title so painfully earned that they were not about to give it up.
With the Dan clan gone after their defeat, no one remained to protect the two new sovereigns. The Valon clan had been given strict orders not to interfere with this conquest, and now that Reno and Rita sat there, no one could help them.
But honestly… they didn't really need help.
"I—"
Rita moved so fast the warrior didn't even realize she had moved. She grabbed his face and simply threw him off the top of the hill and the ruined palace where the throne stood.
The warrior, confused, looked back toward the place from which he had just been tossed like worthless trash.
Rita then turned back toward Reno, her expression slightly worried.
"We need help. We won't be able to keep this up for long."
Obviously, this was the greatest challenge in Nozras—especially in the capital. A clan could maintain its rule for several days, but two people were surely incapable of doing so. They couldn't even allow themselves to sleep or rest. The best option would have been to abandon the throne.
But that would mean abandoning Reno's dream.
Nozras was not a legend for reaching the throne—he was a legend because he had possessed the overwhelming strength necessary to remain there without anyone daring to oppose him. In his time, no warrior had the courage to challenge him until the day he died. Even when he was old, no rebellion ever occurred.
Order through fear had worked.
But the frenzy had only grown since his death. And even when crushed and broken, a warrior would always return to reclaim what he believed was his.
Sometimes it became so absurd that crippled fighters and dying men still dragged themselves to the throne.
All of it…
Just to die on it.
But Rita still had a clan behind her. Even if they had not truly believed in her, the remaining people of her village had been ordered to protect the bloodline. Now that she had reached the throne, she only needed to call them to receive help.
Unfortunately…
"It's impossible they'll receive the message in time."
Reno, however, wasn't counting on anyone.
"You underestimate us, Rita. There's no way anyone is getting me off this throne. So the two of us should manage."
"And how do you plan to warn them if you never leave this spot?"
Reno pretended to think, then lowered his head in defeat.
But suddenly, an idea struck him.
"We can send them a golden bird. I know how to tame them."
The golden bird was the equivalent of a carrier pigeon in Nozras. Though more majestic, it was smaller than a pigeon. Covered in golden feathers with orange-tinted legs, it was a species mainly used to deliver messages—or sometimes sent like kamikazes to crash into warriors and explode their heads.
"Reno, you know very well any bird flying above the capital will be destroyed. Everyone knows that trick."
It was true.
In the time of the tyrant, Nozras possessed several golden birds that often returned to perch on his shoulder after completing their missions. No one dared harm the sovereign's birds.
But after Nozras disappeared, the species itself began to vanish. Warriors killed any golden bird they saw flying above them. Over time, their use became obsolete, and the golden birds disappeared from the skies of Nozras.
"I see… Well, don't worry anyway. No one will get me off this throne."
Rita looked at Reno with an empty gaze. She obviously didn't think anyone could force him down from there.
Yet suddenly she felt uneasy, because she didn't know if what was coming next would be joyful or not.
Reno believed himself invincible.
But he didn't know something that might make him change his mind :
Rita was pregnant....
Later, after three days of taking turns guarding the throne—three days of relentless fighting to protect it, three days of massacring hundreds of reckless warriors—the rumor of a new king began to spread again.
That king was Reno Gazor.
At his side stood his wife, the last of the Obu, who was said to be even more terrifying than he was. Reno became known for his incredible strength and endurance, but Rita became known as something else entirely: a cold-blooded killer. Fast and efficient.
Fewer and fewer warriors came alone, which at first seemed like good news. But it hid a much larger problem :they began to come in groups.
A king who managed to stay on the throne for that long frightened the warriors so much that they started gathering in large numbers to attack the ogre and his killer. The warriors would arrive together. Reno, seated on his throne, would slowly raise his head, watch them arrive one by one, and when they were all visible, he would grab his mace and stand up.
The warriors shivered whenever the ogre rose.
He was taller, more muscular, more terrifying than all of them combined.
But above all…
He was far stronger.
"That's it?"
Reno would glare at them with rage and slowly walk toward them. Most of the warriors didn't even realize they were stepping backward.
Rita watched her terrifying husband—the hatred in his eyes, the stride of a monster.
And for a strange reason, when she looked at him like that, something in her royal blood stirred. It felt like a warning.
She couldn't help but think of Nozras, even though she had never seen him.
"Damn it, Reno…"
But she didn't want her husband to become like him.
Yet, just like the group before them—and the groups that followed—they were slaughtered.
Contrary to the legend that would later surround the couple, Reno did not remain on the throne for mere days.
He remained for months.
The rumor had been deliberately suppressed. Many warriors feared that if people began admiring him too much, they might gather under his banner and form a clan around him—and that was their worst nightmare. If Reno ever returned with a clan behind him, his rule would become undeniable.
Rita's village only learned the news much later, which delayed any response. Things were beginning to move but far too slowly.
And Rita, in truth, did not want them to come anyway.
Over time, Reno's hold over the capital became unquestionable.
Outside the walls, however, the story dragged on.
And yet…
He never officially became king.
As the groups of challengers grew rarer, Reno only grew stronger. His strength seemed limitless. His speed was beginning to surpass even Rita's. His technique became unstoppable, and his body almost impenetrable.
The warriors grew more and more afraid.
Some simply gave up.
In truth, no one had remained on the throne this long since Nozras himself. And no one had remained there so alone since the great king.
Rita watched all of this in silence.
Would she destroy everything?
Or would she abandon the life she had built with him?
Every day she watched Reno rise… fight… sit… rise… fight… sit… rise… fight… sit again.
Was this really his dream? Was this truly what he wanted?
The more time passed, the stronger he became. Yet the frenzy of Nozras never left him in peace. Warriors began bringing entire clans with them. His rise to the title of king was close—but what price had he paid for it?
Reno didn't see any of it.
He kept striking and crushing his enemies. His mace blows now held enough force to split a man in two and tear parts of his body away. But Reno hadn't even noticed how much stronger he had become. Reno hadn't noticed how many more warriors were coming. Reno hadn't noticed that his wife no longer fought at his side. Reno hadn't noticed that her belly had begun to grow.
For the umpteenth time, Reno sat down on the throne, exhausted. He leaned on his mace before slumping into the seat. He looked at the same rising sun he had watched the first time he had sat there.
But this time, something was missing.
he looked to his right...
then to his left...
but he couldn't remember what it was.
The images of the recent battles filled his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly. He shook his head violently, even striking his own temple before suddenly remembering :
Rita wasn't there....
A few days later, Rita was sitting on the edge of a small raised rock facing the sun. The dry, orange earth filled her field of vision, and the wind blew gently through her blond hair. She breathed calmly, her eyes reflecting a landscape unlike any other.
Below her, a vast rocky plateau stretched endlessly. Cadillacs flew in groups above the ground. Lores were feasting on prey they had killed. Farther to the right, the few trees that had survived the harsh climate were thin and dry, as if they were about to snap at any moment. The wind lifted small clouds of dust, sometimes striking a rock or two before splitting into two paths and rejoining just after the obstacle. Then it rose slowly until it reached her and brushed softly across her face.
Rita thought about nothing except the beauty of the landscape… and the baby in her belly.
Still, something was missing from the scene. Something from this quiet moment.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind her.
She couldn't help but smile.
Reno was there, walking slowly, his head lowered, his face filled with sadness and regret. Rita didn't really know what regrets weighed on him, but she smiled anyway.
They had traveled so far, faced so many enemies… and in the end, Rita had been forced to leave the capital because of their child. Reno had followed her, almost reluctantly.
But Rita was happy.
Even though she felt sorry for Reno, she had gotten what she wanted.
Finally, smiling at him with a smile filled with a little sadness as well, she said:
"Azraël. I want to call him Azraël…"